


Lay Down Your Weapons

by stelliferous_sky



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dancing, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Not Beta Read - We Die Like Warriors, Nyma is actually a good friend, Pining Lance (Voltron), University Ball, background Adashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 01:50:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stelliferous_sky/pseuds/stelliferous_sky
Summary: Lance and Hunk drag Keith out to a college ball where Keith proceeds to be antisocial. Lance has something to say about that.





	Lay Down Your Weapons

**Author's Note:**

> Like literally everything fan fic I write, this is entirely self-indulgent and I'm not sorry at all. I recently watched Alex Lovestrange, which is where the song for this fic came from.
> 
> Also, Nyma is a good friend here because I'm tired of every fic out there painting her as a bad guy who f*cks Lance over.

  Keith Kogane was fire, daggers and empty highways at midnight. He was the human equivalent of holding up a bank and getting away with it. It was the smirk. It made him into some gut-twistingly hot jackass who was slightly above everyone else.

  At least Lance used to think so before he really got to know another side of Mr Untouchable. The side of soft sunsets, origami cranes and that huge hippo plushy in the closet. This Keith marathoned Disney princess movies with the gang and gave tiny knitted key chains – that he insisted that he definitely did _not_ knit – as gifts. This Keith kept one eye on Pidge, the youngest and smallest of the gang, whenever they went out and he pulled Lance back by his hoodie when he tried to cross the road without looking.

  Lance could’ve gone his whole life in peace without ever getting to know this Keith. He wouldn’t be the swooning mess he was now if Hunk never made friends with Lance’s one true rival and had the gall to invite said rival into their friendship group. Complete and utter betrayal on Hunk’s part.

  (He still wasn’t forgiven.)

  As it was, Keith wasn’t so untouchable anymore. Yeah, he taunted Lance and gloated with that infuriating(ly sexy) smirk that drove Lance insane with the need to strangle and kiss the boy at the same time. He was still the jackass who didn’t get social norms and pop-culture – to Lance’s horror – and he still aced every single class without even attending half the lectures.  

  But Lance realised that Keith was an egg. All hard surface and mushy insides made up of dorky conspiracy theories and crappy attempts at humour. Keith was afraid as much as Lance was, only Keith feared rejection and not academic shortcomings. Keith was insecure about his place and value among them – which, to be honest, was a bit of Lance’s fault. The first time they made plans as a group, Keith was surprised that Hunk asked if he was okay with the time they’d decided on.

  Eyebrows shot up, a glance at Lance and asking, “Me?” like he couldn’t comprehend.

  That was the first time Keith seemed more human than god. The first time that Lance realised maybe Keith didn’t stick to himself because he thought he was better than everyone else but because he didn’t know how to be friends with anyone.

  That was the first time Lance realised that he could probably stop hiding his huge-ass crush behind annoyance and general distaste for the mullet-boy.

  Maybe he had a chance.

  That was so long ago.

  Long enough for Lance to once again come to the conclusion that he was the biggest idiot in the universe and Keith was the dumbest person alive.

  Lance was going to ask Keith to the university ball they held every year. He honestly was. But then Pretty Boy was wearing a fucking dress-shirt and pants that day because he had a presentation to the dean or whatever and somehow Lance was grabbing the nearest girl by the hand – Nyma – and asking her to go with him seconds before Keith arrived at the scene.

  Nyma, to everyone’s surprise, said yes and Lance died a little bit inside, especially as Keith rolled up the sleeves to his elbow a few minutes later, claiming it was hot.

  (Lance had actually left the table and came back five minutes later, his face and the front of his shirt soaking wet.)

  And now Keith was sitting at a table, folding animals out of paper napkins and trying hard to make them stand up and Lance was on the dance floor with his hands on Nyma’s waist and she was... giving him smug looks.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Why didn’t you ask him?”

  “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Lance, you’ve been staring at him all night.”

  He sighed because he wasn’t fooling anyone and felt like crap because here was Nyma in his arms, looking beautiful and knowing full well that he was pining after someone else. Hard.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologised. “I just- I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  “You would think that after months of flirting with Keith, you’d do something about your feelings.”

  “Wait, you know?”

  Nyma shrugged, moving to the music. “Everybody does. It is hard to not notice.”

  He ignored the first part. “But why did you say yes then?”

  “You’re a good friend. I’d rather go with you than anyone else.”

  “Thanks, Nyma.”

  Somehow Lance was still dancing but Nyma had dropped her hands from his shoulders and Lance was definitely reading something wrong because she looked confused now.

  “Lance,” she started. “The night’s not getting any younger, you know. You should ask him to dance.”

  “Keith doesn’t do dancing. If Hunk and I didn’t buy him a ticket to guilt trip him, he wouldn’t even have come.”

  Nyma smiled and physically removed Lance’s hands from her waist. “Just go hang out with him. He looks lonely.”

  She didn’t give him much of a choice. She took him by the shoulders and pushed him in the direction of the table Keith was folding napkins at with a crease between his eyebrows.

  Hunk and Pidge were nowhere in sight and Shiro was with Adam at the bar. No one to save Lance.

  What the hell. Lance marched to the table. This was just Keith, his friend. There was nothing to be nervous about talking to a friend. Except that Keith’s hair was combed back and that red bow tie and black dress shirt made him look like some sort of divinity trying to act human, putting in a crap-ton of concentration into his paper animals.

 “Dude, you do realise this is a party, right?” Lance said, dropping into the chair next to Keith. His leg was long enough for his knees to brush Keith’s thighs and he knew he should probably move them but didn’t.

  Keith side-eyed him. “As I recall, I didn’t want to come to this thing.”

  Lance rolled his eyes. “You can at least pretend to be enjoying the money Hunk and I put in.”

  “I didn’t ask you to,” Keith grumbled, moving onto another napkin to fold his fourth hippo. “Go bother Nyma. She’s your date, isn’t she?”

  Was Lance imagining it or did Keith actually sound a bit bitter? “She wants a break. I can’t find Hunk, Pidge or Allura and there’s no way I’m getting in between Shiro and Adam when they’re flirting. So you’re my only option.”

  Keith said nothing, long pale fingers delicately folding lines into the paper.

  “Why hippos?” Lance asked. “Literally out of all the animals in the world, you like hippos.”

  Another side-eye glare. “Got a problem with hippos?”

  “No, no!” Lance quickly said in his defence, putting his hands up. “I just don’t know why you like them.”

  “Because they’re a paradox. They look cute and soft but they can bite your limbs off.”

  “So the opposite of you then?”

  Keith looked up suddenly, eyes big and round. It could’ve been the flashing disco lights from the dance floor and it could’ve been from the alcohol Keith had undoubtedly already consumed but Lance swore Keith was flushed pink.

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  Lance shrugged, kind of happy to be falling into a familiar rhythm of bickers. “You look like you’re gonna bite everyone’s heads off but you’re a total softie who makes hippos out of napkins.” Now Keith was definitely red, pouting his lips in a way that made Lance want to ease it away with his own lips.

  He cleared his throat. “You should stop that by the way. What’s everyone going to think about the stoic Keith Kogane making hippos, of all things?”

  “Then what else am I supposed to do?”

  “Talk to me.”

  Keith rolled his eyes and went back to his hippos. “Don’t you have Nyma to impress or something?”

  “What’s your problem with her?”

  “Nothing,” Keith answered too quickly. A heartbeat passed. Then. “Maybe my problem is with you. Maybe you stole my date. Huh, Lance?”

  Lance blinked. Keith liked girls? Since when? And-

  “What?”

  Keith said nothing and Lance couldn’t tell what that face meant. Embarrassment? Anger?

  “Whoa,” Lance breathed. “Sorry, Keith. I thought you...” _I thought you were gay. I thought you liked me._ He refused to think about what this revelation meant for him. “Well, if it makes you feel any better Nyma and I are just friends so if you ask for a dance I’m sure she’d be happy to.”

  Keith sighed. He’d paused his folding but he still wasn’t looking up. “No, I wasn’t going to ask her.”

  It was embarrassing how relief washed over Lance like a wave. “So what’s your problem with me then? You’re more pissy than usual.”

  “I just don’t want to be stuck here by myself.”

  Lance wasn’t expecting an answer, much less an answer as open as that one or accompanied by that face like a kicked puppy. Once upon a time, Lance would’ve been angry and would’ve snapped at Keith to leave because he didn’t know how to handle Keith showing so much emotion. But this was Keith trying to open up, trying to bond and Lance only had to open up too.

  So he did. “I’m here,” he said, softer than he probably should have. “Is that enough?”

  Keith gave a tiny one-sided smile. “Yeah.”

  No. Nope. Just nope. Lance never signed for Keith smiling like this. It was getting too much for his heart to handle. “Great. But you gotta actually talk to me like a normal person instead of making your hippos though.”

  Keith crumpled up the napkin he was folding, leaned back in his seat and looked at Lance expectantly to provide the topic of conversation.

  “Okay... You ever been to a party before?”

  “Yeah. I go for free alcohol.”

  Lance gave him a face. “Of course you’re one of those people. Do you just go, get a drink then leave?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Of course. Oh my _god_ , Keith. You’re impossible. What about the dancing? What about the fun? You’re missing out on so much!”

  Keith looked at the dance floor. Yes, this was a university ball they held every year for undergrads but it wasn’t that different to a regular house party, just a lot bigger, fancier and less indecency – not by much though.

  Then he said, “Let’s do it.”

  “Do what?”

  Keith stood, determination set in his eyes. “Let’s dance.”

  Lance blinked up. “You want to dance... How much have you drunk?”

  Keith rolled his eyes. He didn’t look drunk, not even the slightest bit tipsy. But he was pink and he was extending a hand to Lance like some sort of British gentleman asking a lady for a dance.

  Maybe _Lance_ was drunk.

  Keith’s hand wavered and the tiny smile on his face was fading. This was Keith starting to close his doors again after opening it wider than he ever had for anyone, except perhaps Shiro.

  Lance grabbed his hand, the touch electrifying. “Sure. Let’s dance.”

  It ended up being Lance dragging Keith to the dance floor because Keith apparently had no real intention of going. That or he chickened out and didn’t want to admit it. When they were on the edge of the floor, Keith looked like he regretted everything, staring at the people around him half in horror and half in disgust.

  “Dude, come on!” Lance yelled over the music. “You wanted this.”

  He backed away slowly. “I don’t- I don’t know how to-”

  Lance took his hand again for the second time that night and wondered why his heart and mind hadn’t completely shut down. Then, god help him, he took Keith’s other hand. For some absurd reason, Keith didn’t object and let himself be pulled onto the floor again.

  “Just follow my movements,” Lance said, moving Keith’s arms back and forth and a steady rhythm.

  The pound of Lance’s heart in his ribcage was louder than the beat of the music. He started moving Keith to that rhythm instead, fast and loud and ridiculous and Keith was so damn floppy it was like shaking a puppet. At least until Keith held his hand tighter and started to move like he meant to.

  _‘And it’s hard to love, with a heart that’s hurting.’_

  Lance sang along under his breath and Keith watched intensely.

  _‘But if you want to go out dancing,_

_I know a place._

_I know a place we can go.’_

  Now Lance was singing with everything he had and he smiled and Keith echoed it and it was the best thing that had happened. Dancing with Keith’s hand in his and both smiling like complete idiots and Lance had never been so sure that Keith liked him back.

  _‘Where everyone’s gonna lay down their weapon,_

_Lay down their weapon._

_Just give me trust and watch what’ll happen.’_

  Keith looked at his lips and Lance felt the kiss before Keith pulled him and pressed his mouth against Lance’s.

  And Lance was wrong. _This_ was the best thing that had happened, kissing Keith under flashing disco lights and wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist and hands cupping his face, a thumb sliding over his jaw. Keith Kogane was a bass drop Lance knew was coming but still shook him to the bones.

  Keith Kogane was air and Lance was fire and Lance burned and burned but as long as Keith was here, he’d never go out. 

  To his complete and utter disappointment and shame, Lance had to pull for air first because it was too much. Keith was too much. His lips, his hands, his eyes. Everything. They were too close, fronts pressed together, breaths mingling. Too much. But he wouldn’t expect anything else with Keith Kogane and he loved it that way.

  And around them were claps and cheers and hoots. There was Nyma smiling knowingly and Lance mouthed a thank you. There were Adam and Shiro, the former bitterly placing a twenty into the other’s hands. There were Pidge and Hunk whistling and making suggestive faces and, “Get a room!”

  “You know what, Pidge?” Lance yelled back, gripping Keith’s hand. “I will.”

  Then he turned to Pretty Boy who was bright red and pouting from all the attention. Lance kissed him again. “What do you say we get out of here?”

  “Perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Kudos and comments are treasured and very much appreciated. :)


End file.
